MBP 13" help

[mwells65]

Hey all I am brand new here and brand new to Mac. I plan on getting a 13" within the next month. However, I've been reading as much as I can about them and I have to ask about the graphics. A lot of people say how poor the graphics are on the 13" but I can't wrap my head around it. I am currently running Pro/E (3D solid modeling) on a 2002 Dell. I feel as though the 13" would run this program so much better and look so much better compared to the computer I use now, despite the "bad" graphics. I assume they mean compared to the 17"? There is no way they are that terrible.

I plan on hitting the iLife suite pretty hard as well as the normal word, excel, internet, etc. Maybe in the future bootcamp to use Pro/E, solidworks, autocad.

Last question (yes I know very noob, so you can point me to a link if you dont want to explain), should I fork out the extra $ for the 2.8? I am going to use iLife, excel, word, internet 99% of the time. I am pretty sure the 2.4ghz i5 will handle it pretty efficiently. Oh and I am upgrading to 8g ram.

Sorry for the book! Thanks for your time!

 

[dlimes13]

If you're doing 3D Modeling but don't want to fork out the extra $500+ for the better graphics and quad core processor, consider a refurb:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC721LL/A

Yes it's a 15 inch, but it has a better video card and a Quad Core CPU for not much more.

As for the CPU, it is not worth it for it's price. You'll see little to no difference in performance, especially for 99% of your uses you stated above. But upgrade the RAM yourself for sure, very cheap and great upgrade.

 

[mwells65]

Ahh decisions. I would love a quad core, but don't like 15". Very good point though. The pc I am currently running 3d modeling on has a 2.4ghz Pentium 4 processor and an Nvidia quadro4 900 XGL. haha. I'm just wondering if it is safe to say the hardware on the base mbp will run the program much better?

 

[dlimes13]

The CPU will kick the ***** out of the Pentium 4, but in the end, it's still integrated graphics and for future use, I'm not sure how that'll handle. For 3D modeling and other future items, I'd want at least some dedicated graphics card.

 

[dendowling]

The 15 & 17" models have better graphics cards than the 13 inch.

<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-compare.html>

You can probably find further specs on the different graphics cards and compare those to your old computer.

Also, depends on whether you plan to plug in an external display.

You should be able to get someone at an Apple store to demo some 3D modeling apps on the 13" for you.

 

[mwells65]

Ya I will just head to the Apple store this weekend and see if they have any demos. Prolly my best bet.